Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

Pack was a collection of software tools offered by

to download in a single archive. It was announced at the 2006

Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event typi ...

, on January 6. Google Pack was only available for

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, released five years earlier, which was then the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft W ...

, and

Windows 7 Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, ...

. In September 2011, Google announced it would discontinue a number of its products, including Google Pack. Google Pack is no longer available for download.

Available applications before discontinued service

Users could choose which of the following software applications to install. If the application was already installed, Google Updater checked to see if the user had the latest version and upgraded it, if necessary. The software applications that were available to download depended on the language, locale, and operating system.

Google-branded

* Google Desktop *

Picasa Picasa was a cross-platform image organizer and image viewer for organizing and editing digital photos, integrated with a now defunct photo-sharing website, originally created by a company named Lifescape (which at that time was incubated by ...

, a photograph organizer and editor * Google Toolbar for

Internet Explorer Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer and Windows Internet Explorer, commonly abbreviated as IE or MSIE) is a deprecation, retired series of graphical user interface, graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft that were u ...

* Google Photos Screensaver, which displays pictures from the user's computers *

Google Earth Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...

, an electronic globe *

Google Talk Google Talk was an instant messaging service that provided both text and voice communication. The instant messaging service was variously referred to colloquially as Gchat, Gtalk, or Gmessage among its users. Google Talk was also the name o ...

, an instant messaging and

Voice over IP Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also known as IP telephony, is a set of technologies used primarily for voice communication sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. VoIP enables voice calls to be transmitted as ...

(VoIP) application * Google Video Player, a multi-media player, now withdrawn *

Google Chrome Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google. It was first released in 2008 for Microsoft Windows, built with free software components from Apple WebKit and Mozilla Firefox. Versions were later released for Linux, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, an ...

, a free web browser developed by Google

Mac Software

* Google Quick Search Box *

* Picasa for Mac *

SketchUp SketchUp is a proprietary 3D modeling software that is used to create and manipulate 3D models. It is used in architecture and interior design. SketchUp is owned by Trimble (company), Trimble Inc. The software has a free web-based version, and ...

* Notifier for Mac * Picasa Web Albums Uploader * Toolbar for Firefox

Third-party

Mozilla Firefox Mozilla Firefox, or simply Firefox, is a free and open-source web browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation and its subsidiary, the Mozilla Corporation. It uses the Gecko rendering engine to display web pages, which implements curren ...

with Google Toolbar * Spyware Doctor with Anti-Virus *

Adobe Reader Adobe Acrobat is a family of application software and web services developed by Adobe Inc. to view, create, manipulate, print and manage Portable Document Format (PDF) files. The family comprises Acrobat Reader (formerly Reader), Acrobat (former ...

, a document viewer *

RealPlayer RealPlayer, formerly RealAudio Player, RealOne Player and RealPlayer G2, is a cross-platform media player (software), media player app, developed by RealNetworks. The media player is compatible with numerous container file formats of the multimed ...

, a multi-media player *

Skype Skype () was a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for IP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also had instant messaging, file transfer, ...

, a VoIP application *

StarOffice StarOffice is a discontinued proprietary software, proprietary office suite. Its source code continues today in derived open-source office suites Collabora Online and LibreOffice. StarOffice supported the OpenOffice.org XML file format, as well ...

, a

productivity suite Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proce ...

that includes a word processor, a spreadsheet and a presentation program. * Immunet Protect Antivirus * avast! Free Antivirus *

WebM WebM is an audiovisual media file format. It is primarily intended to offer a royalty-free alternative to use in the HTML video and the HTML audio elements. It has a sister project, WebP, for images. The development of the format is sponsored by ...

for IE9 In March 2007, Google added two new applications to the Google Pack: Spyware Doctor Starter Edition and Norton Security Scan. These programs were free and did not require a

subscription The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a product or service. The model was pioneered by publishers of books and periodicals in the 17th century. It ...

, unlike Norton AntiVirus. However, Norton Security Scan does not offer continuous protection against

viruses A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are found in almo ...

. Norton Security Scan scans the computer and identifies if there are existing viruses, worms, spyware, unwanted adware or Trojans residing on it. The program's functionality is similar to Microsoft's Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool. Google has stated they have no monetary agreement with the makers of the above software and they offered the applications for the ease of Google's customers. They didn't receive any payment for providing the software pack, although

Miguel Helft --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands * São Miguel (disam ...

in his ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' blog reported that an unidentified source stated that Google may pay

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

for each copy of

. StarOffice was no longer part of Google Pack since November 2008. Google has included the VoIP application Skype in the pack, even though it is a competitor of Google's own Google Talk. Some industry observers claimed that the release was little more than a collection of software "that Google's wrapped a rubber band around".

Former third-party before discontinued service

* Ad-Aware * GalleryPlayer * Norton Antivirus Special Edition 2005, which included a 6-month subscription * Norton Security Scan * Trillian * Spyware Doctor Starter Edition

Google Updater

Google Pack came with Google Updater as a

package management system A package manager or package management system is a collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer in a consistent manner. A package manager deals wi ...

to assist in downloading, installing, removing, and automatically updating the Pack's applications. Updater could be uninstalled without removing the applications.

References

{{Google LLC

Pack Pack or packs may refer to: Music * Packs (band), a Canadian indie rock band * ''Packs'' (album), by Your Old Droog * ''Packs'', a Berner album Places * Pack, Styria, defunct Austrian municipality * Pack, Missouri, United States (US) * ...

Beta software